Native backup/restore partition options

[Tom Metro]

Scott Ehrlich wrote:
> Tom Metro wrote:
>> Scott Ehrlich wrote:
>>> Tom Metro wrote:
>>>> dd if=/dev/zero of=/path/to/partition/zero
> 
> I question this only because, if done from a CD bootable OS, I would 
> think it would overwrite all the data on the mounted partition with all 
> zeros...

Let me clarify. If the partition you want to prepare is /dev/hda1, you do:

% mount /dev/hda1 /mnt
% dd if=/dev/zero of=/mnt/zero
% rm /mnt/zero

/mnt/zero is an ordinary file, not a device.


> And if done from the live running OS, it may cause instability of the
> filesystem when complete by likely writing over existing files.

Starting with the perfectly reasonable assumption that your file system 
driver is working correctly, this operation should neither cause 
instability nor impact other files on the disk, regardless of whether 
you do it from the "live" OS or a bootable CD.

  -Tom

-- 
Tom Metro
Venture Logic, Newton, MA, USA
"Enterprise solutions through open source."
Professional Profile: http://tmetro.venturelogic.com/

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